The Tale of Despereaux
Monday 22 December 2008 at 10:20 am. Used tags: mouse, movie
The movie bears only a passing resemblance to the book, having been simplified to make it accessible to 5 year olds. The characters are they, but the story is quite different. Unfortunately, it was made cartoonish. The mice and rats, instead of living like mice and rats, have their own worlds, with houses, stores, etc. There are no prisoners in the dungeon. The king never knows his daughter is missing. The jailer, instead of wandering in the dark with only a rope to tell him the way, has plenty of cheery light. Basically, all the real darkness was removed from the story because the darkness would make it too scary for small children.In a way, that guts the whole story. One of the important themes was the contrast between dark and light, but when the dark is made bright and the harshness removed, then the theme looses it power.
On a technical level, the animation is great. The animals are rendered realistically, with every hair in place. The humans are flatter, more cartoonish. And when Despereaux imagines scenes from the book, the style is even flatter, looking much like children's book illustrations that move.
Overall, I would give it 2/5. It is not so bad by itself, but I am disappointed it is not what it could have been.
